May Bank Holiday.

Busy day on Sunday for me.

First off was the (now) annual Doctor Who Event at St Andrews In The Square (http://www.standrewsinthesquare.com/Flash/saints.html). It was my first time there and it’s a very nice venue (much better than the tacky Central Hotel, where it was for the last few years). I got to meet some nice folk connected to Doctor Who including Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Wendy Padbury and Nicholas Briggs. There were a couple of “local” guests too – Andrew Smith (who wrote “Full Circle” in 1980) comes from Rutherglen and Stephen Greenhorn (who wrote “The Doctor’s Daughter” in 2008 as well as creating “River City” for the BBC) who comes from West Lothian.

Met up with a few mates too – Scott, Dierdrie and John so spent sometime in the downstairs bar with them – I was on the coffees, by the way, as I was driving! Nice menu there and very pleasant surroundings.

The trains back home finish early on a Sunday and the reason that I was driving was because I was heading off later in the day to see Blaze Bayley and his band playing at Ivory Blacks (the old Strawberry Fields, for those who know Glasgow) as part of their World Tour to support their “Man Who Would Not Die” album. Seeing Bayley live is always fun – and never predictable – and it’s nice to see him in a small venue close up with deafening sound.

Blaze Bayley's Set list: The Man Who Would Not Die, Blackmailer, Smile Back At Death, The Launch, Lord Of The Flies, Born As A Stranger, The Brave, Tenth Dimension, Identity, Kill And Destroy, Ten Seconds, Alive, Ghost In The Machine, The Clansman, Samurai, Voices From The Past, Stare At The Sun, Futureal, Leap Of Faith, Robot


Waiting for my "Flight666" DVD to arrive! ;)

Star Trek.

So, Mr Simon came down from Aberdeen and dropped off the kids at Saltcoats before heading back into Glasgow to meet up with me so we could go and see the new Star Trek movie. We were both looking forward to it, but we ended up being disappointed as by the time we went to buy the tickets, the showing was sold out! Quick walk to the pub for a few beers and a chat and then he was off back to Saltcoats.

Ended up in The Solid where we belatedly celebrated Mr Gray's brithday.

Wednesday Night Out.

It was such a nice day yesterday that I decided to go out for a few beers after work. Ended up in the Solid's sister pub Rufus T Firefly on their new roof garden – which I didn’t even know existed until I got there. It’s a small decked area on the roof with gas powered heaters and wee speakers nailed to the walls – not to mention the retractable roof in case it rains!

Generally a good night was had, with me ending up in the famous Lauders Bar. For those who don’t know, Lauders is across the road from where the old Apollo concert venue was (now a multi-screen cinema) and was the pub of choice for the discerning rocker in the 1980s before nipping across the road to see a band on the Apollo stage . Strangely, this was my first time in the pub and I happened to know some of the bar staff. Looks like Lauders in firmly on my list of pubs to drink in from now on! Last train home was pretty quiet and then the next thing you know it's time to get up. Quiet night planned for tonight.

May Already?

Took a wee trip down to see the parents at the weekend. Nice to see Father P out of hospital and the weather was good enough to sit out the back and have a few glasses of wine. We went to the local Woodland Centre at Winlaton Mill on Sunday afternoon which was quite nice. Lots of child friendly activities and lots of walks to be had – although with a wheelchair, some accesses proved difficult to negotiate. Will head down again in a few weeks if I can manage it.

What is going on with the Ferrari F1 Team, I don’t know. All credit to Jensen Button who’s having a good season so far (despite not knowing if he would ever get an F1 drive again after Honda put the team up for sale), but he’s doing a great job for the Brawn Team in their maiden season. Hopefully Ferrari will be better placed to gain some points in the latter half of the season. World Championship this year for us? Not a chance!


Was planning on getting the grass and the hedge cut last weekend, but the torrential rain on Saturday meant that this wasn’t possible. Really nice weather today, so I’ve decided to leave work early and get it done tonight. I can’t do it this weekend as I’m off to Aberdeen. Finally set about arranging a trip to the Doctor Who exhibition at the Kelvingrove – looks like it’ll be 26th June. That’s the day the school’s break up in Glasgow so hopefully we can be in and out (and on the way to the pub) before the place is invaded by children.

30/04/2009 – Saxon.

So, last night I finally got to see Saxon (ably supported by Doro Pesch) and it was well worth the wait! What a fantastic night – full of old style Heavy Metal. Can’t be bothered putting Doro’s set list up cos she didn’t have a sparkling set – except for a novel re-working of the Judas Priest classic “Breaking The Law”.

Saxon Set List:Battalions Of Steel, Heavy Metal Thunder, Demon Sweeney Todd, Ride Like The Wind, Requiem (We Will Remember), Strong Arm Of The Law, Valley Of The Kings, And The Bands Played On, Hellcat, The Eagle Has Landed, Come Rock Of Ages (The Circle Is Complete), Machine Gun, Never Surrender, Wheels Of Steel, Live To Rock, Motorcycle Man, Crusader, 747 (Strangers In The Night), Denim And Leather, Princess Of The Night.